1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program, in particular, an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, an image processing method, and a program which make it possible to automatically perform image processing suited to the position and pose of a human in an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, during an operation of performing image processing on an image in which a human appears, and applying an effect (special effect manipulation) to the human, it is necessary for the operator who performs the image processing to judge where the human is located in the image, and what kind of effect should be applied to the human. For example, to apply an effect that creates a greater sense of dashing forward movement to an image in which a human who is dashing forward appears, it is necessary to perform steps such as identifying the position of the human in the image, and selecting an effect suited to the pose of the human. In the related art, those steps are performed manually by the operator.
On the other hand, computer-graphics generated animated images are built on the basis of scenario information describing camera works, character movements, and the like. Therefore, by using the scenario information, effects can be semi-automatically applied to computer-graphics generated animated images (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4245433). However, since so-called actual-captured images actually captured with an image capturing apparatus are not images based on such scenario information, it is difficult to apply effects to such actual-captured images semi-automatically.
A technique exists which applies a manipulation to a face region recognized from an image by using a face recognition technique. In the case of manipulation using a face recognition technique, although only a face region is subject to manipulation in many cases, for example, a manipulation can be applied to the body portion through application of a rule that a body exists below a face region. However, depending on the pose of a human, such manipulation using a face recognition technique often results in a manipulated image that looks unnatural.
For example, referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, a description will be given of an example of effect that puts clothing on a human in an image by using a face recognition technique.
As shown in FIG. 1A, when the rule that a body exists below a face region is applied to an input image P1 in which a human in a vertically oriented pose appears, to apply an effect that superimposes a clothing image P2, this results in an output image P3 that looks relatively natural. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 1B, when the rule that a body exists below a face region is applied to an input image P1′ in which a human in a horizontally oriented pose appears, to apply the effect that superimposes the clothing image P2, this results in an output image P3′ that looks unnatural.
Even when image processing is performed in this way to apply an effect suited to a human in an image by using a face recognition technique, it is difficult to obtain a result suited to the position or pose of the human in the image.